All miked up, Warne goes after Bailey

SHANE WARNE has said worse things to international batsmen over the years, and, as Paul Collingwood and Daryll Cullinan know, he doesn't bother concealing his contempt.

But Warne's pointed critique of George Bailey on Saturday night was different from his usual barbs because, rather than drawing on the rich tradition of bowlers trying to mess with batsmen's minds, this sledge was made for television.

''You would think the Australian Twenty20 captain would smack me out of the park, wouldn't you? Rather than keep nicking me?'' a miked-up Warne said to the Fox Sports commentators after Bailey had been dropped at slip off his bowling by Cameron White for the second time.

Typical Warnie? Maybe, but more cutting for the context - Bailey replaced White as national captain last summer, before the Tasmanian had played for Australia - and for the fact that Warne has a direct line to a couple of hundred thousand television viewers on account of his role as wired-up on-field commentator.

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Bailey, leading the Hobart Hurricanes against Warne's Melbourne Stars, didn't know he'd been publicly scoffed at by his former Stars teammate until after the match.

Asked whether he felt he deserved more respect, Bailey deferred to the great leg-spinner, whose supreme self-belief is given daily oxygen by the Big Bash League publicity machine.

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''Dunno, is it disrespectful? Until I actually see it, I don't think I'll get into a war of words with Warnie, if that's all right,'' said Bailey, his trademark smile remaining in place as he played for the spin. ''I think he's still the world's greatest leg-spinner, isn't he, who's going to have a Test comeback at the age of 44 or whatever he is? [Warne is 43.] So he needs a bit of respect.''

Warne brought White into the attack after the dropped catches and the Victorian captain had Bailey caught in the deep.

The wiring up of Warne, who has one wicket from the Stars' first three games, has provided genuinely fascinating insights as he lets BBL viewers in on which ball he is about to bowl, and invariably puts it where he said he was going to. More than ever, the joke is on the batsman.

Those who can't accept that Bailey was promoted to the national captaincy before commanding a place in the team would have laughed along with this one, never mind that the successful Tasmanian captain has since made four international half-centuries. His Australian team stumbled at the semi-final stage of the World Twenty20. No prizes for guessing what Warne thinks.